Hullo. I am not Norwegian but Norway is my favourite country I have visited so far (note my flag of choice) Have gone to Lillehammer and been on the luge, also Oslo and loads of other places... can't remember that much as I was only 11 at the time... It's lovely but I don't like the bread!

(Original post by La Papillon)
Hullo. I am not Norwegian but Norway is my favourite country I have visited so far (note my flag of choice) Have gone to Lillehammer and been on the luge, also Oslo and loads of other places... can't remember that much as I was only 11 at the time... It's lovely but I don't like the bread!

Thought I'd just say

Hei hei!

Which bread? I find that the Wasa-type stuff (knekkebrød) really needs something moist on it (gravlaks, yum) or soft cheese (brunost, not technically cheese but amazing). I love rugbrød too, especially as smørbrød with prawns.

I've visited the island of Spitsbergen (specifically, Ny Alesund and Longyearbyen + some wild places in between). I absolutely loved it. Every day since I've thought about going back to Norway, and would love to live in Norway one day.
I'm not Norwegian, although I believe that I'm part viking I don't really know any Norwegian, but I''l try and piece together the little Icelandic that I've learnt, as I know the languages are similar:

(Original post by JayTeeKay)
I've visited the island of Spitsbergen (specifically, Ny Alesund and Longyearbyen + some wild places in between). I absolutely loved it. Every day since I've thought about going back to Norway, and would love to live in Norway one day.
I'm not Norwegian, although I believe that I'm part viking I don't really know any Norwegian, but I''l try and piece together the little Icelandic that I've learnt, as I know the languages are similar:

Icelandic is like a "living ancestor" of Norwegian - Icelanders originally came from Norway and brought their language, it hasn't changed much in a thousand years but modern Norwegian has. West and central dialects and the Nynorsk written standard are generally closer to Icelandic/Old Norse(not always f.ex. NN 'kvit', BM 'hvit', ON 'hvítr', IL 'hvítur') whereas both the east and northern dialects have been heavily influenced by modern Danish and the Bokmål written standard is actually a modified form of written Danish so the latter will be more difficult for someone to understand if they speak Icelandic already.

You could say/write either: Jeg elsker Norge (Bokmål) or Eg elskar Noreg (Nynorsk). The Old Norse would be: Ek elska Noregr (or Norðvegr, which is the original name), and the Icelandic: ég elska Noregur. So, yeah, quite similar .

Icelandic is like a "living ancestor" of Norwegian - Icelanders originally came from Norway and brought their language, it hasn't changed much in a thousand years but modern Norwegian has. West and central dialects and the Nynorsk written standard are generally closer to Icelandic/Old Norse(not always f.ex. NN 'kvit', BM 'hvit', ON 'hvítr', IL 'hvítur') whereas both the east and northern dialects have been heavily influenced by modern Danish and the Bokmål written standard is actually a modified form of written Danish so the latter will be more difficult for someone to understand if they speak Icelandic already.

You could say/write either: Jeg elsker Norge (Bokmål) or Eg elskar Noreg (Nynorsk). The Old Norse would be: Ek elska Noregr (or Norðvegr, which is the original name), and the Icelandic: ég elska Noregur. So, yeah, quite similar .

I wouldn't want to pick a fight with a polar bear. I'm not sure even bullets would stop several tonnes of meat charging towards you. They are amazing to watch though (from a distance!).
I don't really know much Icelandic. Just words and phrases I picked up when I visited. I love listening to Sigur Ros, and I've learned one or two words from listening to them, and one or two from listening to songs by the Icelandic band Dikta (who unfortunately now sing in English ). But really, I hardly know any Icelandic -Eg skil ekki/eg tala ekki Islenska.
I would have learned more Norwegian when I visited, but I spent my time mostly around other Brits on the expedition -a few Germans and a French Canadian too, but only little contact with Norwegians. I only really know some obscure words like öya, takk, haderbra (no idea how to spell these, this is just how I remember they were pronounced), bolig, dag and trygghamna (apparently safe harbour?).

I'm not really a languages man. I was quite good at German, but dropped it last year after blitzing my AS level so I could focus more on getting my other grades -I'm a maths/physics kind of a guy. I love languages, especially Scandinavian/Germanic languages, because a lot of the words have the same root as German/English, so it's not too challenging . I just don't have the dedication to self-teach though, and I'm fearful that each new piece of vocabulary will push out vital pin numbers

(Original post by JayTeeKay)
I wouldn't want to pick a fight with a polar bear. I'm not sure even bullets would stop several tonnes of meat charging towards you. They are amazing to watch though (from a distance!).
I don't really know much Icelandic. Just words and phrases I picked up when I visited. I love listening to Sigur Ros, and I've learned one or two words from listening to them, and one or two from listening to songs by the Icelandic band Dikta (who unfortunately now sing in English ). But really, I hardly know any Icelandic -Eg skil ekki/eg tala ekki Islenska.
I would have learned more Norwegian when I visited, but I spent my time mostly around other Brits on the expedition -a few Germans and a French Canadian too, but only little contact with Norwegians. I only really know some obscure words like öya, takk, haderbra (no idea how to spell these, this is just how I remember they were pronounced), bolig, dag and trygghamna (apparently safe harbour?).

I'm not really a languages man. I was quite good at German, but dropped it last year after blitzing my AS level so I could focus more on getting my other grades -I'm a maths/physics kind of a guy. I love languages, especially Scandinavian/Germanic languages, because a lot of the words have the same root as German/English, so it's not too challenging . I just don't have the dedication to self-teach though, and I'm fearful that each new piece of vocabulary will push out vital pin numbers

Yeah, I can't imagine the rifles people are required to have are actually much use in Svalbard. There was an incident in Japan in the early twentieth century when a single brown bear pretty much decimated an entire village and shrugged off several bullets, Polar Bears are bigger, stronger and faster than them .

Ah that's a shame, Norwegians are generally very nice people when they get to know you. Also, I was very surprised at the amount of Norwegian girls who have a thing for English accents - wasn't expecting that. Great people, but sadly have a bit of a bad rep for being 'icy' at first (as I said once you get to know Norwegian people they really open up - my roommate in Oslo last year even invited me to his family's house for Jol which was really great and I really appreciated the gesture).

It's good that you were able to pick that up: øya means 'the island', takk is 'thanks' (unless it was with a long vowel 'tak', which means 'roof'), ha det bra is 'goodbye' (literally 'have it good'), bolig is 'housing/accomodation' (it may have a broader meaning, I'm not sure), dag is 'day', Trygghamna means 'the safe harbour' but is a famous fjord in Svalbard so I'm guessing this is what you mean.

Yup, Norwegian, English and German are all in the Germanic language family and ultimately have the same roots. I was made to learn French, which I have absolutely no liking for, in school and really resented it (I wanted to do German but we didn't have a choice). I'm the opposite - hated Maths and Science in school despite having "a good mathematical brain" (according to my teacher), really enjoyed History and English though.

(Original post by Luceria)
Oh, we're all Anglophiles. lol. Britain is a popular place to travel and Brits in general are "popular."

I've heard a lot of people complaining about Norwegians being "icy". But it's just cultural differences really. Norwegians are shy and reserved. We avoid strangers at all cost. If you smile at a random person, they will most likely think you're insane. Haha

It's all those gold-filled monasteries.

I actually rather like it. To be perfectly honest I dislike having to act like I'm everyone's best friend when I've only known them for five minutes, not that I'm anti-social or anything - it just doesn't seem natural or sincere. It makes sense to me that you should get to know a person somewhat before being too chummy. You also know that people are talking to you because they want to rather than feeling socially obligated to do so.

I've noticed it doesn't seem so much to be the case with older people (60+). When I lived in Oslo for a semester I had about three older people just start randomly talking to me in Norwegian (generally while I was half-asleep on the T-bane, haha), which was pretty cool - had some very interesting conversations (or tried to, my Norwegian being a little hit-and-miss).

(Original post by Luceria)
Haha . Oh yes, most definitely. I'm a crazy Anglophile.I feel at home in England. (Though I also love the rest of Britain and Ireland).
I dislike that as well. I don't like "fake politeness." I find it almost offensive. If you don't want to smile, I don't think you should. I hate when people are "Oh I must talk to you to be polite". Ugh.

That's nice! I don't know. Maybe older people are a little more open.

I guess it must be quite common to like Britain seeing how many people come to study here even though it's virtually free in Norway (and in the rest of Scandinavia). Still, seems quite funny to me.

(Original post by Luceria)
Yes. But it's a lot "cooler" studying in the UK, and more interesting. And it's really close. Loads of really great universities. Here there are barely any unis, and I don't reckon they are that "good" . (ranking wise etc) .
In the UK there are loads of brilliant, old and very beautiful universities etc. In Norway most of the unis/colleges are quite new, and rather ugly. Britain has many amazing buildings, but when you go to Norway it's rather obvious we used to be one of the poorest countries in Europe. Oslo was also voted the "worst" Nordic capital a few years ago (Bergen is a lot prettier). I hate the "modern" and "new" look . I love old fashioned and old.

I'm against Norway joining the EU.. But we're in the EEA and they could have made some deal, lol. It's so expensive studying in the UK!

Yeah, I see your point. I have to say though that I was very impressed with UiO when I studied there, infact I hope to go back.

I love that as well. I really enjoyed the Norsk Folkemuseum, Bryggen, Nidarosdomen, and the stavkyrkjer (my absolute favourite architecture) are especially amazing.

How do you fund it? It must be very difficult, and I can't imagine studentloans would be available for studying abroad (they aren't here at least or I'd have applied to study in Norway or Iceland, th UK government only funds for people wanting to study in the UK (nothing wrong with Nottingham, but it's not such an "experience" I suppose)).

(Original post by Luceria)
Me. If I'll pay for it, well I'm not sure about that. I don't know anything about this comic book Thor. Though I don't think that matters. It's not like I knew anything about Iron Man or X-Men etc when I saw those.
It looks like a typical summer popcorn film. I also have a shallow reason for seeing it, which is Chris Hemsworth. Tehe.

I might go see it just to make a statement (I'm only half-Norwegian) also unfortunate how I always view Thor as a violent but less powerful version of Odin

(Original post by Luceria)
Yes. But it's a lot "cooler" studying in the UK, and more interesting. And it's really close. Loads of really great universities. Here there are barely any unis, and I don't reckon they are that "good" . (ranking wise etc) .
In the UK there are loads of brilliant, old and very beautiful universities etc. In Norway most of the unis/colleges are quite new, and rather ugly. Britain has many amazing buildings, but when you go to Norway it's rather obvious we used to be one of the poorest countries in Europe. Oslo was also voted the "worst" Nordic capital a few years ago (Bergen is a lot prettier). I hate the "modern" and "new" look . I love old fashioned and old.

I'm against Norway joining the EU.. But we're in the EEA and they could have made some deal, lol. It's so expensive studying in the UK!

Really? Are we comparing to Stockholm, Copenhagen, Helsinki and Reykjavik?